Calm Before the Storm
by Spinnerweb
Summary: Sequel to Retribution which is in turn a sequel to Taking the Stage. Anisette joins Squad 422, while a special Gallian Squad gets a new leader. Having an overview of Valkyria Chronicles 3 is recommended.
1. Back From the Grave

**Chapter 1: Back From the Grave**

**Author's note: It's recommended that you know at least an overview of Valkyria Chronicles 3 before reading this, but even if you don't I've explained it anyway.**

June 16th, 1939 - the Federation gained the upper hand in the war against Gallia after successful production of human Valkyrur and their numerous copies of Geriolul tanks. They captured Vasel, forcing the Gallian army right back to the Imperial side of Gallia's border. However, the army base in Vasel contained valuable information that the army was ordered to either recover or destroy before the Federation got their hands on it. A special task force, the Gallian Unified Tactical Squad or GUTS for short, was deployed for this task. The Federation was already at Vasel by the time they arrived and a battle ensued.

"Fire!" the squad leader shouted at the tank pilot.

"Not yet, sir. I'm waiting for them to cluster up!" the tank pilot shouted back.

"Hurry the hell up or we're all dead!" one of them shouted.

Pressured by his fellows, the tank pilot fired at the enemy's Geriolul with the infantry spread around it and missed completely.

"Take cover!" shouted the squad leader as the Federation's Geriolul readied its mortars. As they exploded, the soldiers dived into various ditches for cover while the Gallian tank was hit spot on with a mortar, killing the tank pilot. One of the lancers fired at the Geriolul and by a lucky shot presumably killed its pilot from the impact. Heartened by taking out the Geriolul, the leader urged his men to even greater efforts. In twenty minutes, the Federation was turning back.

"Go! Go! Go! Run, you grunts!" the squad leader shouted at his men, although he himself was at the very back. The men ran forward, but one of the younger ones stopped.

"Look, over there!" he shouted, pointing at a grassy area. Over there, not fully visible through the smoke, a figure collapsed onto the grass.

Two weeks ago, in Vasel, things were very different for the place in particular, but not for the country in general.

Anisette stayed in the medic's tent, her head hurting and her heart broken at the news she had just gotten. Late in the day, the medic came again with a bag.

"Someone sent this for you," he said. He set it by her mattress and walked out again. Anisette ignored it for a while, then decided to open it - there couldn't be anything in it to make her feel worse.

Inside were a jacket, a pistol and another letter - the writing was more childish on this one.

_Dear Anisette,_

_These two things belonged to Zack - it's all they could find when they searched the area. I'm sorry to hear what happened and I thought that you should have something to remember him by. I made the jacket for him myself before we left for the mission, and the gun was his as well - although who made it we don't know. We couldn't find his sword, or I'd have sent that too._

_Love,_

_Zanna._

Anisette put away the letter and looked over the gun and the jacket. The uniform looked pretty much like the Militia ones, except that it had Darcsen colors, clearly different from the clear blue of the Militia ones, it also had a piece of Darcsen cloth attached to the arm, it was made to look like as if it was tied around the arm but if you took a good look at it, you could see that it was just sewn on to it. It also had a coat of arms on both shoulders, on the left there was a raven and on the other side there was a wolf, both of them were darkly coloured. They looked really good even though she had no clue as to what they meant. The gun seemed to be custom-made. It was grey and its barrel had the Darcsen symbol engraved onto it. She wondered if Zack had made it himself. It didn't matter; they were his and that was enough. She hugged them to her as if they were precious and started thinking about the future.

By the time she'd decided, she felt a changed person. Getting up, she put on Zack's jacket and took his gun, and stepped out of the tent.

Three days later, she had joined Squad 422 of the Gallian army. What was curious about this squad was that only up to Squad 421 were officially listed in the army's record. Squad 422, also called The Nameless, was a special squad that carried out Gallia's black ops that would otherwise make it lose face internationally. It mostly comprised of war criminals, outcasts and traitors. In 1935 they had played a pivotal role in Gallia's victory, and they all carried on with their lives, but newer soldiers with dark pasts joined it. Anisette thought of it as the perfect place for her; everyone had their own sob stories to worry about so they wouldn't question her. No one did. They were so cut off from the normal world that they hadn't even heard of her as a singer. No one asked why she was wearing a Darcsen's uniform either. She just got accepted into the fold. The Nameless weren't given names either - they were called by their numbers. Anisette was No. 29, although there were only about twenty soldiers in the squad - the remaining eight were dead and open to be replaced.

June 16th, 1939 - the young soldier knelt by the figure.

"It's a Darcsen, sir," he said to the squad leader.

"Get him up," the leader said.

"Get up," the soldier said, shaking the Darcsen. He didn't stir.

Just then the rest of the soldiers started firing.

"Shocktroopers!" one of the shouted to the squad leader. The squad leader nodded and pulled the younger soldier up.

"But sir, the Darcsen!" he shouted.

"Worry about him later!" the captain said back as Federation shocktroopers surrounded the Gallians.

The leader then took a shot to the head and fell. Behind him, the Darcsen finally got up and swayed for a second then as he saw his surroundings something seemed to come back to him and he pulled out the leader's sidearm. Even though he had been unconscious minutes ago, he didn't seem disoriented at all as he took aim and shot the Federation soldiers along with the rest of the squad. Once again the Federation's troops lost.

"Damn!" said one of the soldiers when he saw that the leader was dead. "They must have been planning to attack us while we were celebrating."

The young soldier who seemed to be a good bit more human than his partners turned to the Darcsen. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the Darcsen said.

"You're not a civilian are you?"

"No, I'm not."

"How did you end up here?"

"It's a long story..."

"I'm listening."

_A week back_

Anisette listened the rain pelting outside as she sat in the military camp, trying to rest after a particularly difficult mission. And that was her first one as one of the Nameless. She still felt full of adrenaline. She didn't mind how demanding the missions were anymore - it took her mind off what she thought about all the time: Lanseal, her friends at Lanseal, the bells, winning the Levatain Cup...

A Darcsen soldier came in, soaked from the rain. Anisette didn't know him by name. He was No. 15 and he was slightly younger than her. He'd been trying to be friendly with her since she started but she had refused to open herself up to anyone.

"Just got back from a mission," he said, shedding his equipment and gear.

"Mhmm," said Anisette.

"Pretty bad weather, eh?" he asked.

Anisette grunted in reply. Sensing that she wasn't in a mood to talk, the soldier went out to report for his mission. Outside Anisette heard him talking with someone who sounded a bit older than both of them.

" ... something really bad must have happened to make her this anti-social, even for us," said No. 15.

"So? Stop worrying about her. I don't like her. You'll keep trying to be friendly with her until she finally breaks your heart, just like that girl back in Bruhl. That's what drove you to join us, right?"

No. 15 sighed. "Yeah, that's it."

Anisette felt a sort of sympathy for him, but didn't think anything.

"Hey, No. 29! Get out here, new mission!" a gruff voice shouted. It was of their squad leader, No. 1.

"What? I just got back!" Anisette shouted back.

"It doesn't matter. Hurry up," No. 1 said.

June 16th, 1939 - "So I was buried alive there until some Federation soldiers came looking for me. I knocked them out, but nnot before they injured me too. I left most of my gear behind to make moving easier," the Darcsen finished.

"You sound like a good soldier for our unit. We'll draft you in if you want, but we need a name. What's your name?" the soldier asked.

The Darcsen hesitated. "Fine," he said. "It's Zack."

**Author's note: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Credits go to eric8teen for the design of the Darcsen uniform. And thanks to rnn21 for making me a favourite author - I thought I was horrible!**


	2. Saving No 15

**Chapter 2: Saving No. 15**

"So what's the mission?" Anisette asked tiredly of No. 1.

"Reports indicate that the Federation is trying to occupy the ragnite ore mines to prevent Gallia from exporting them to the southern countries, therefore destabilizing its enconomic condition - "

"Which is pretty bad anyway," Anisette inserted in-between.

" - and force it to leave the war as a financially bankrupt principality. Then either we'll have to surrender, or turn to the southern states for help. However, their forces might not reach us in time," No. 1 continued as if she hadn't said anything. "They have started on the Doerfein Mines - easiest to occupy because the Darcsens there refuse to retaliate. Make sure that they aren't able to do so, and if they already have, then drive them out."

"Who's coming with me?" asked Anisette. Because it was such a small squad, they were always spread thin and forced to rely on quality instead of quantity.

"No. 15!" No. 1 called.

"Aw man, I just got back," No. 15 whined, grabbing his gear roughly again.

"Hurry up, then!" No. 1 shouted carelessly. "Move out as soon as possible and we'll extract you by dawn."

Anisette put her gear back on and put her pistol in the side-arm holster. She hadn't used it even once yet, but she still kept it with her. No. 15 stood outside and complained about how cold it was while she took one of the few spare Mags machine guns that were left.

Anisette and No. 15 figured that this mission would suck before it even started. While they were getting onto the truck, Anisette slipped in the wet mud and fell. No. 15 helped her up and she grudgingly accepted his hand. It was the first time she'd taken a good look at him; he was short with lighter-coloured blue hair than most Darcsens and his uniform had sniper markings on it.

Half a mile away from the Darcsen settlement, the truck stopped.

"You're on your own now," the driver said. "Good luck."

It had started raining pretty badly, every drop like an icy dagger, and the wind was picking up as well.

A few steps into their mission, No. 15's radio started beeping.

"Yeah?" he shouted into his walkie-talkie over the noise of the wind and the rain.

"No. 1 here. I'm sure you know that I sent the two of you only because this is a stealth mission. No fireworks, remember. We don't want the Federation to know that we've starting defending the ragnite mines. Catch 'em by surprise, OK? No. 1 out."

"Yes, sir," said No. 15. "How good are you at these missions, No. 29? Hey, wait up!" he said, running to catch up with Anisette who'd started walking again. He nearly slipped and grabbed her to catch his balance. This made both of them fall.

"I would have stopped," Anisette said. "You didn't need to drag me down for it."

"Sorry," he said. "So what's your name?"

Anisette paused for a while. "No. 29," she said and continued walking.

"I meant your real name. You know, what your parents called you?" No. 15 joked.

The mission was Cold-Shoulder Stealth after that. Anisette didn't forgive No. 15 for mentioning her parents and he was oblivious to why she refused to talk. After slipping and tripping over the slick terrain, they finally came within sight of the entrance of the Doerfein Mines. Anisette was about to step out in the open when No. 15 drew an arm in front of her and said, "Stop."

"What?" she asked.

"Over there," he pointed. Anisette looked towards where he was pointing and saw from the little she could see through the rain a crouched figure wearing black. He seemed to blend in perfectly with the dark environment.

"Camoflauged snipers. There could be more of them," No. 15 said. "Take this," he said, giving Anisette his rifle. "I'll see how many are there and you take them down."

They stayed still for a while.

"All right ... five of them. One that you just saw, three near the entrance and one of them towards the left. Shoot them quick," he said.

"Won't the rest of them wonder who's firing?" Anisette said sarcastically.

"It's silenced," No. 15 said proudly. "I customized it myself."

"OK... count them down for me," said Anisette. She took aim at the three snipers near the entrance and fired three bullets. Two of them dropped. The third checked their bodies before he was shot in the back as well.

"That's more than half of them," said No. 15.

Anisette took down the other two snipers and handed him his gun.

"Clear the area so they can extract us quick, I'll go see what they're doing to the mines," she said.

Inside the mines it was extremely dark. Anisette tried to light her torch a few times but it didn't turn on.

"Come on, work!" she said to it.

"What's wrong?" No. 15's voice came from her walkie-talkie.

"Everything. Tell the Nameless their equipment is awful," she said back. He started to say something, but she said, "Now quiet. You're going to give my position away."

The mines seemed to be empty, but Anisette felt like a million eyes were watching her. After some time of just running around, her radio came back to life.

"Hurry up, it's so cold out here," said No. 15.

"I can't find any Feds. Guess they were just guarding the entrance yet," Anisette said.

"You!" came a voice from above her. Anisette looked up and saw, from a raised part of the rock, another man in a sniper uniform. He had an eye patch and a badge that showed that he was some high-ranking soldier.

"You're not taking this mine from us! It belongs to the Federation now! Nobody can take it away!" he shouted.

"I bet he's great fun at parties," Anisette said to herself, taking out her pistol and aiming. It wasn't easy in the half-darkness.

"You think you can shoot me, do you?" the man shouted. "It doesn't matter! I've rigged this place with a bomb, and it's going up in ten minutes. You'll never find it! You are going to be buried here forever," he said, turning around and running.

"What did he say?" No. 15 said in her walkie-talkie.

"That this place is going up," Anisette replied.

"Then hurry up and get out of there!"

"If I do then this mission's a bust."

"Damn the mission! You can't die for a small place like this," No. 15 said.

Anisette was about to run, but she remembered the last time she had been here - two years ago with Class G, how they had saved the mine and the gratitude they got from the Darcsens.

"Sorry, I have to do this," she said.

"You're not! I'm coming down to get you," No. 15 said.

"Don't - idiot," Anisette said as he didn't reply.

Anisette remembered last time where the bomb was. It would be the coincidence of a lifetime, but could the bomb be in the same place twice? It was worth checking anyway - there were only ten minutes until it blew up.

She hadn't been in the mines for a long time and it was hard enough searching for it, but she got there with three minutes anyway. After a bit of looking...

"Ah!" she said as she heard a ticking. The bomb was there - draped with wires and having a timer on its front. Now came the part of defusing it. The letters 4K98 were printed on a label on its side. Anisette scratched her head for a while before remembering what Zeri had instructed Cosette last time they were in the mines: "The 98 series can be disabled by cutting the red wire."

Hoping it would be true, Anisette took out her knife and cut through the red wire. The timer immediately stopped. Relieved, she sighed and stood back for a second.

"No. 15, I've taken care of the bomb. Back outside, we have to search for that guy with the eye patch," she said into her radio. He didn't reply.

"Uh... No. 15?" she said again. "What's taking you so long?"

The radio crackled. "Urghh... I've been shot," he said, his voice breaking.

Anisette tensed immediately. "Where are you?" she said.

"In the mines. I don't know where... it's too dark," he said.

"Stay where you are, I'm coming," Anisette said. Then she radioed base camp. "The mission's over, but No. 15's hurt. We're going to need some help here."

"Just when I thought he was getting the hang of it... fine, but it'll take some time. Clear the area for extraction," No. 1 replied.

Anisette searched around but could barely see anything in the dark, dingy mines. After a while scouts of the squad arrived and helped her look. She was impressed by how quickly they found No. 15. The carried him outside and left him to wait for the extraction truck to arrive.

"You didn't need to come look for me, idiot," Anisette said. In fact it had affected her deeply.

"I couldn't sit there and do nothing about it," he said. "Besides, I'll be fine now... no thanks to you," he added jokingly.

"Hyper little kid. I like you," Anisette said. "Kind of," she added as he brightened up and his face fell again.

"Now can you tell me what's your name?"

"Isn't my number enough?"

"Oh come on, that's something the Regular Army uses to make us feel like outsiders. We're all friends here."

"Fine... it's Anisette."

"Mine's Zaki."


	3. Other Half of the Tale

**Chapter 3: The Other Half of the Tale**

**Author's note: The dude's name in the previous chapter is Zakir. I made a mistake. Sorry, just clearing some stuff up.**

Gallia and the Federation's war had grown more and more intense, but as both countries' ammunition decreased, so did the morale of the soldiers, the civilians and even the leaders. Many people were demanding a ceasefire, but the war carried on. People in Gallia, who had already presumed that Gallia was going to lose, rioted and the anti-Darcsen sentiment in Gallia flared up again; nobles insisted that it was due to having a Darcsen leader, Archduchess Cordelia, that Gallia was cursed by such bad luck as having to fight three wars in just half a decade. Rebel factions reformed and started attacking Darcsen settlements as well as helping the Federation occupy various parts of Gallia. The condition of both the Gallian army and the Gallian militia was miserable, having to fight an enemy from within and an aggressor from without. The result was written on the wall for those who could read it. On July 12th, 1939, Federation troops backed by rebels entered Randgriz. The Gallian 1st Armoured Division, labelled 'The Pride of the Gallian Army', tried to make a last, desperate effort to defend the capital, but was disintegrated by the Federal 4th Geriolul Squad, likewise labelled 'The Pride of the Federation Army' and consisting entirely of Geriolul tanks. As the capital fell and the Archduchess Cordelia was arrested and imprisoned, the people of Gallia who had given an excellent account of themselves in 1935 and 1937, wept.

One of the strange things about this victory was that a new leader wasn't proclaimed. Taking it as a good sign, the militia and army continued fighting what many thought a lost battle, while those with over-analytical minds said that it was a way to control people out of fear of not knowing who was behind the Federation's victory.

The Darcsen named Zack became something of a leader figure for the GUTS squad, leading them to reoccupying some of the desert areas in Gallia like the Daws Desert and Barious Desert. But the more fertile lands remained in the hands of the Federation.

_June 1939 -_ "So how did you get shot?" Anisette asked Zakir as the truck arrived.

"Guy in an eye patch and a fancy badge. Didn't get too good a look at him, though."

"Oh, I forgot to report to the higher-ups about that. Well, I'll tell them when we get back."

"WHAT?" said No. 1 when Anisette finished telling him. "You didn't go after him? You could have shot him there! Why didn't you?"

"It was too dark to get in a good shot," said Anisette.

"_Too dark?"_ the man asked, looking as if he would have a seizure. "What of the equipment we gave you?"

"It didn't work," said Anisette.

"Well then, we've lost him now but - "

"Why's he so important anyway?"

"He's probably the most dangerous soldier the Federation has. We barely ever here of him except from the few soldiers that survive encountering him. We know him as the Eternal Soldier, because he's been around for years and doesn't seem to grow any older."

"Snazzy, but I'm not going after him again," said Anisette at once and walked out of the building before No. 1 could say anything else.

"Hey, you!" said a familiar voice. The man who No. 15 had been talking to before the mission was running over to her.

"I'm No. 5, Dave," he said. "I uh, wanted to thank you for bringing Zakir back safe. He's a bit over-energetic but a really good friend to have. Do you trust me enough to tell me your real name?"

"... Anisette," she said, deciding that it was enough of him to thank her, even if she did overhear him saying some stuff about her.

"OK. I'll introduce you to the rest of the squad if they're willing enough to give their names."

"Not yet," Anisette said. "I'm a bit tired now.

_July 1939 -_ "Sir, the GUTS are ready to move out," the soldier who had found Zack said, standing at attention in front of the latter. His name was Amon.

"Good. We're heading out to Ghirlandio. We're fighting them at the Naggiar Plains."

"What about the desert areas in our hands?"

"We're leaving them," Zack said. "They aren't any use to us, we just needed them to get nearer to the major cities. By the way, have you heard anything from General Amarion?"

General Amarion was the behind-the-scenes person who controlled the GUTS squad. He never seemed to meet anyone in person and had disappeared ever since Randgriz fell. Zack wondered if he'd been imprisoned or murdered.

"And I don't need to tell you, they've probably already got Cordelia on death row. We have to get back to Randgriz as soon as possible."

"Yes sir."

"Then let's move out!"

"Hey Zakir!" Dave called as he came out of the briefing office. "We've finally decided that we're all going together on this - we're going to take back Ghirliando so that we can be at a place that's nearer to Randgriz. We've got to take it back as soon as possible. The mission's starting tomorrow, so better do as much as you can in the time you have."

"Got it," Zakir said. "_Finally_ I feel like we're doing something rather than running around in those useless mines," he told Anisette. "Well then, we've got a day left. I'll introduce you to the other people."

"Okay..." Anisette said.

The only two squad members they did get to meet though, were No. 12 Iya and No. 17 Pliskin. The others were too busy getting ready.

As the APC trundled along deserted areas, Zack thought back to when Amon and the others had found him... and how he had only told them part of his tale. The rest he preferred to keep to himself. Some things were said in the destroyed Lanseal building which he wanted to forget.

_Flashback -_ When Zack came to he was buried under pieces of rock. Trying to move was impossible. He pushed for a while but the rocks wouldn't budge. As he thought he'd be buried there forever, the rock blew off him and he was blinded by light after such a long time in the dark. The fake Valkyrian, Clementia, lifted him up and slammed him down again. He tried to move but she kicked him over to his back and said, "Your friends might have gotten away, but when they come back for you all they'll get will be your crushed corpse." Saying that she kicked him over again so that he couldn't get up. "But I won't mae it quick. You'll die a slow death." Punctuating her words with blows she started talking.

"You Gallians never do anything while considering the consequences. Baldren and Audrey Gassenarl were heroes, and you people killed them. They believed in the might of the Valkyria, and they could have brought a revolution. But that would only help Gallia, not us. So we had our own plans.

"After Baldren killed his father, Jean Townshend told me how the Gassenarl siblings planned to make new Valkyria. If only you could imagine my happiness - I'd lost that poor example of a Valkyria, Aliasse, but here was a whole potential army of them to study.

"We planned to murder Baldren when the Dandarius arrived at the Federation, then take Dirk for ourselves and use him for our studies. But you got rid of both of them yourself. You did us a favour by removing any evidence of the Federation's involvement, killing the only two people who knew so.

"But the Gassenarl siblings were not completely useless. We recovered the plans for the Geriolul _and_ the V2's and here we are now, crushing your poor small country while your army and militia do nothing but watch.

"Now that you know the truth, it makes sense for me to finish you off," she said, picking him up. Zack dug his hand inside his jacket and pulled out the gun he'd made himself. His jacket fell off and Clementia readied for the final blow, but Zack put his gun to her face and fired it repeatedly.

It didn't hurt her, but it surprised her enough to drop him. Dropping his gun as well he ran as she screamed behind him and seemed to give chase. After running for what seemed like miles, Zack finally looked back and saw that she was gone. He lay down right there and tried to rest, but another battle started up around him.

Then Amon had found him.

_End Flashback_

The APC stopped at a small, undisturbed village where Zack had planned to join another independent squad that had arranged to meet them there. Getting out of the APC and waiting for the squad, Zack was surprised to see a girl with blue hair.

"Aliasse?" he asked.

"Zack! Long time no see. It's _so_ boring here," Aliasse said. "Cosette left to join the militia and she told me to wait here, as if I can't help. Isn't that unfair?" She obviously hadn't changed a bit.

"Uh... yeah, it is, I guess," Zack said, unsure of what to say.

"Are you a Valkyria?" Amon asked.

"Well, yeah. Hey! Can I be in your squad?" Aliasse asked, jumping with excitement.

"Cosette told you to stay, so stay," Zack said sternly. Aliasse dimmed at once.

"I'm not a pet!" she said indignantly.

"Real Valkyria, huh..." Amon said

"Don't start, Amon," Zack muttered.

"Zack, maybe we should. She could help. Having a Valkyria, a real one, could turn things around for us."

"I don't know, Amon. You don't know Cosette. She'd be furious."

"Zack, just this once. She can take care of herself and Cosette probably knows it too. We need her."

"Aliasse, we're going on a really dangerous battle, and I'm not exaggerating," Zack said. "So unless you're willing to take the risk - "

"OK!" Aliasse said at once and clambered into the APC.

"Did she even listen to what I said?" Zack said to himself.

The squad didn't show up even hours later, so annoyed already at the delay Zack had to presume that they couldn't make it and they started off again.

"So, where's Anisette?" asked Aliasse suddenly.

"..." Zack was silent.

"Zack, who's this Anisette?" Amon asked, joining in with gusto.

"She's ..." Zack said.

"Woo hoo hoo! The plot thickens!" Amon said, roaring with laughter.

"Thanks a lot, Aliasse," Zack said quietly. In fact, he wasnn't sure what had become of Anisette, and while the thought of the battle ahead made him feel sick to his stomach, he was sure he'd have felt better if he had Anisette beside him.

**Author's note: Sorry for the delay, school really got in the way but my summer break started a few days ago so I'll update faster now. Oh, and thanks to Kingdom Heart Guy for favouriting me as well.**


	4. Thoughts About the Future

**Chapter 4: Thoughts About the Future**

**(Part 1)**

As they neared the Naggiar Plains, a call came in on Zack's radio.

"This is General Amarion. Zack, do you read?" said a voice from the radio.

"Sir! You're alive," said Zack.

"Yes, I am. I see you have managed the squad well enough while I was out of contact," Amarion said.

"Sir, what happened? Why couldn't you c-" Zack began, but Amarion interrupted him.

"No time for that now. I have some new information for you. Rebels are supporting the Federation and you'll most probably encounter them in this battle. I don't care if you come across an old friend of yours, but if they are rebels you have to get rid of them as well."

"How do we know if they're rebels?"

"Their uniform is different from the Gallian militia's."

"OK."

"Leave no one standing. Including Anisette Nelson," said Amarion.

"Leave her out of this, Amarion. She doesn't deserve it," said Zack angrily. "Besides, how do you know that she's with them? What if you're mistaken?"

"You have your orders. Either you do your job or I'll have someone else do it," said Amarion with an awful air of finality.

Zack waited for Amarion to get of the radio, then pulled the radio off his uniform and threw it away.

"Zack, what did he say?" asked Amon, looking concerned.

"Nothing that matters," Zack said. "The Feds must be getting ready, so let's start putting up defenses of our own."

"Why do we need Ghirliando anyway? It's been destroyed since 1935," said Amon, who was looking at the Federation soldiers' position through the scope of his rifle.

"Exactly. They wouldn't bother to see if there's a squad with a base camp there," said Zack. "Which one looks like their base camp?" he asked.

Amon lowered the scope. "I think they've got more than one camp. Three, from what I saw," he said.

"All right, we're splitting up our squad. My unit will attack them from the front to divert their attention, you'll lead one of the units from the side and capture the enemy camps," said Zack.

"And what about me?" asked Aliasse.

"Uh... go with Amon," said Zack. "Now move out!" he shouted.

As they neared the place where they started the battle, Zack and Amon's units split up. Aliasse, who had refused to use her powers (_like always,_ Zack thought), was with Amon's unit as a scout.

Zack put his pistol in his holster and picked up his sword and shield. The Federation's squad had spotted them and they were already ready. Once Zack's squad was in range they opened fire at once and unit scattered. Zack raised his shield and pressed forward until he got close enough to a shocktrooper ducked behind sandbags, then started attacking.

They managed to capture two basecamps, but Zack's unit, which was already smaller than Amon's, had taken a lot of damage and so Amon's unit rejoined to help. Zack himself, who'd been in the thick of things, was exhausted but pressed on.

"Zack, get down!" called Amon; Zack got down as Amon shot a shocktrooper who had been climbing over a pile of sandbags. The shocktrooper fell back.

"You're exhausted; you should fall back," said Amon. Zack nodded, too tired to protest, and wordlessly pulled out. As he went back to their own basecamp, he decided to retrieve his radio - an important call or something might come in. The radio was beeping where he had left it. Picking it up, he said, "This is Zack of the GUTS."

"I know who you are," said a woman's voice which he recognized as Forster's.

"I know who you are too," said Zack. "What is it this time?"

"Hand Aliasse over."

"What?"

"Hand Aliasse over. I won't ask twice."

"You just did ask twice," Zack said to infuriate her. "Isn't your army of Federation drones enough for you?"

Forster made a sound that expressed her annoyance. "None of those miserable puppets are real Valkyria."

"And neither are you, you monster," said Zack.

"Don't you dare address me like that, pathetic Darcsen," she said. "You can't get away every time."

"Watch me."

"I will."

As soon as Zack turned off his radio he went back to pull Aliasse out. Forster hadn't made any indication she was near them but he wasn't taking any chances.

_Better to overreact now and laugh it off later than ignore it and later regret it,_ he thought. Running right through the battle he pulled Aliasse out, almost literally.

"Zack, what are you doing?" Aliasse and Amon said simultaneously.

"I'll explain it later," he said.

**(Part 2)**

When Squad 422 arrived the battle was already over. Although the Naggiar Plains always had bore signs of war, it was easy to see that the battle was already over. No. 1 sent out scouts led by Zakir to search for an ambush while the rest set up base camp.

The scouts came back by the time they had set it up.

"There _was_ a battle here," said Zakir. "There's a base camp here, but we couldn't go near enough to get a look at who they are."

"Well, we should all go and see if they're Feds or not," said No. 1. "Follow me."

Carrying their guns and walking slowly they approached the base camp. They barely got in sight of it when there was the sound of guns cocking and soldiers appeared from what seemed to be everywhere.

"Put down your weapons!" one of them shouted.

"Hold on, you're the GUTS aren't you?" said No. 1.

"That doesn't change what I said. Put down your weapons!"

"Do as they say," No. 1 ordered. "We're Gallians too," he said, holding out his squad emblem to the soldier who had told them to put their weapons down. The man took the emblem, handed it back and said, "OK, sorry about being so direct. But I had to check didn't I? I'm Amon."

"Of course," said No. 1. "I'll go talk to the squad leader," he said to the rest of Squad 422. "You move our own base camp closer to here. There's safety in numbers."

Zack, however, wasn't as trusting as Amon. The moment No. 1 walked in he became alert. "Who're you?" he asked.

"No. 1 of Squad 422."

"Why aren't you wearing the normal Gallian uniform? You could be rebels," said Zack, his hand on his gun.

"We're not. Have you heard of the Nameless?"

"Yeah, but how can you prove you're them?"

"We can't; we need you to trust us on this."

Zack thought for a while. The idea of having a larger squad was tempting, but he couldn't completely trust them.

"Fine," he finally said. "But if you try to pull anything off while you're here..."

"I promise we won't."

"OK, but I'm still keeping an eye on you," Zack said.

"That was brief," said No. 1.

"We're in a hurry. We're moving to Ghirliando before we get any more Feds here. We've got a few wounded men and we're moving as soon as they're patched up."

"What's the matter, don't you ever stop moving?"

"Once we've taken back Randgriz, then we will."

"That's a tall order for such a small squad."

"Well, you could help us if you want."

During this time a storm had been starting and all the soldiers were in a hurry to get back in from the cold. Anisette finished setting up the base camp's skimpy defenses with Zakir, Dave, Pliskin and Iya. Once that was done the rest went back to base camp but Anisette hung back to where the GUTS had placed the bodies of the soldiers who had died in the battle before they were buried. A sign there in sloppy handwriting read,

"In memory of the soldiers of Gallia, the Empire and the Federation who died fighting for their own countries."

_Like Zack, _she thought.

"I'm not one of them yet," said a voice behind her.

Anisette immediately recognized the voice and looked up at the speaker. She was absolutely shocked when she saw his face, "Zack?"

"Took you long enough to get here," he said.

"You're alive…" her voice was filled with relief and anger, she herself didn't know whether to kill him or to kiss him.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I couldn't reach you sooner. I even thought for a while I'd keep it that way," he said.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I'm sick and tired of fighting now. I wish I could have a normal life, and faking my death seemed a pretty good way to get out of the military as soon as the war was over."

"What made you change your mind?"

"I thought I'd wait a while and see if you'd answer my question."

"And what is your question?"

"Once the war is over, do you want to stay with me?"

Anisette looked down at the bodies of the soldiers. She was in love with Zack and she felt that he loved her too, but he'd changed so much since those sepia-toned days at Lanseal that having a feeling wasn't knowing for sure.

"Do you love me?" she finally asked.

Zack smiled and pulled her up, "Of course I do."

Anisette couldn't think of anything to say so she grabbed the back of his neck and pulled his head in for a kiss. As they kissed, thunder clashed and rain started to pour down on the two of them. After a moment, she pulled back, "We should get inside or we'll get sick."

"Yeah," Zack said and the two of them walked back to the base camp. Anisette was finally happy that she got her best friend back.


	5. The Battle of Randgriz

**Chapter 5: Battle of Randgriz**

The two squads merged and went to Ghirlandaio, and although they were two very small squads working together they took back territories from the Federation and even made it to Randgriz. When they got there, though, they found that it was more heavily fortified than they had thought. It seemed that defenses had been increased a hundredfold since the last time they had been there. Still, they were Gallia's last hope, and working out a strategy they decided to attack the city and hope for a miracle. It was a heavy-handed plan and barely any of the soldiers (except the over-optimistic ones like Zakir) thought they were actually going to make it. The plan was to make a breach in the city's walls and then work their way through the narrow streets in the Randgriz market where the Federation wouldn't be able to fight with tanks.

"Remember, don't hurt any civilians. They're our own," said No. 1 right before they began their attack. "It's high time we shared our own ammo with the Feds. Move out!"

The two squads had two tanks between them, which were to stay behind and start firing to create a breach in the city's walls. The infantry units, Anisette and Zack among them, covered their ears and waited for the wall to collapse. It took more than a while, but it finally fell and both squads pored into the city where Federation soldiers were already waiting for them. Canon towers which were placed at regular intervals behind the walls fired at them and they scattered almost immediately. Even though the battle had started badly they did manage to get into the market without losing anyone. One of their tanks had been destroyed, but the pilot had gotten out in time. In the marketplace the battle really got ugly.

Anisette slid behind a wall and stayed there while a shocktroopers bullets whizzed passed her. She waited for the person to reload so she could get a clear shot at him but it seemed to take forever; she pulled a grenade out and threw it blindly where she thought he was and heard a scream as confirmation. There were also civilians running everywhere and in the confusion of the battle everyone lost progress of everyone else. Anisette kept seeing, though, that their own squadmates and civilians were dropping like flies from what seemed to be bullets coming out of nowhere. Finally she saw a sniper _inside_ one of the buildings.

"They've got snipers inside the buildings, too. Be careful out there," she radioed everyone else, then ducked behind sandbags and made her way through a row of landmines to inside one of the buildings. The sound of gunfire didn't get any less louder inside, but no one was focusing on her and she could finally aim well and keep a clearer mind at some of the Feds outside.

One by one the rest of the squads, acting on her advice, made their way into the buildings where they had better vantage points. Zack entered the same building as Anisette.

"Good thinking," he said, breathing hard from exhaustion. Someoe radioed him.

"Zack, you've got the rebels with you, and you're fighting with them?" Amarion said through the radio.

"They're not rebels, they're helping us," Zack said. "But I've got my doubts about your leadership. You always seem to be there when the Federation is one step ahead of us. You're with them, aren't you? When the GUTS found those files you asked us to destroy we couldn't find you, so I looked through them anyway and they looked like a correspondence between Gallia and the Federation. But when you called me to kill off Squad 422 you confirmed my suspicions."

"Those were highly classified documents!" Amarion said. "You have no right-"

"How many others of the GUTS are in on this with you?" Zack interrupted.

"All of them; we've been jerking you around like a puppet on strings this whole time. And now you've walked your Valkyrian friend straight into us! Gallia will now collapse like a house of cards-"

Zack turned off the radio without listening to the rest of what Amarion had to say.

"The GUTS are in with the Federation," he told Anisette. "They brought us here to capture Aliasse. We have to save her before they do!"

Outside it was raining bullets.

"How are we going to get through that?" Anisette asked.

"Get behind me, I'll shield us," Zack said. Anisette got behind him and fired while they moved while Zack used his shield to defelct the bullets.

"There she is, they've got her!" Anisette shouted, indicating where Aliasse was being forced away from the battlefield by Federation soldiers wearing masks. Dropping their defensive strategy they rushed over when a bullet fired at them. It missed them but hit Anisette's gun, dropping it out of her grip.

"Stand very still," said the man in an eye patch, walking over to them, holding a gun with an unusually long barell. The soldiers with Aliasse also stopped and turned around; one of them grabbed Aliasse as well.

"Who are you?" Anisette asked. "I saw you in the mines."

"I'm Amarion, no one else. You will attempt nothing unless I tell you to do so. I want you two to walk away from each other first," said Amarion.

Anisette and Zack did so. Amarion kept his gun pointed at Zack and indicated something to one of the soldiers who pointed his at Anisette. The soldier took off his mask to reveal that he was Amon.

"_Amon?_" Zack said in disbelief.

"Take out your pistol and throw it away," Amarion instructed. Zack took out and threw away his and Anisette noticed that it was identical to hers except it was black with a grey Darcsen symbol - he had two of them. She held onto hers for a while, then threw it away as well. Zack noticed that it was his as well.

"Very good," said Amarion. "Now come along slowly."

Neither of them moved.

"Are you going to come or not? Amon, get them both. They're unarmed, no need to be afraid," said Amarion reassuringly because Amon looked unsure. Amon moved slowly toward Anisette, but the moment he came close she twisted his hand and held him in front of her.

"No!" Amarion said and opened fire instantly. The bullets hit Amon. Zack lunged for his pistol, picked it up and fired it at Amarion, who was turned away from him. Both Amon and Amarion fell. The Federation soldier who had Aliasse let go and ran. Zack was about to shoot him when Anisette said, "Don't."

"If he makes it back to the Federation, they'll know we know," Zack protested.

"They'll also know that their general's dead, and they've got nobody to lead them. That might make them fall back," Anisette said.

And sure enough, the Federation did fall back.

"Was he our general, or theirs?" Aliasse asked, indicating Amarion.

"Theirs," Zack said instantly. "He was a traitor... so was Amon."

"I didn't think Amon would be like this," Anisette said. "But let's head back now. There's no reason to stay here anymore."

"Now all we have to do is take back Randgriz castle," Aliasse said.

The GUTS had dissolved and the majority of their soldiers had fled to the Federation. When Anisette and Zack returned to base camp with Aliasse, everyone was cheering them for something neither of them had enjoyed.

"You took out the Eternal Soldier _and_ won us the battle. Incredible, both of you!" Zakir said. Anisette ignored him, not having any of his enthusiasm.

Later that night, when everyone else was asleep Anisette got out of the base and thought of going for a walk, unable to sleep because of the thoughts of what had happened and the smell of smoke and gunpowder everywhere. Wordlessly she was joined by Zack and both of them ended up sitting together on a fallen wall. Randriz was so silent, it could have been a ghost town.

"What's the matter, Zack? Why aren't you asleep?" Anisette said, already knowing the answer.

" ... Not after what happened today. I thought Amon was a good person. Killing him makes me feel sick," Zack said with his head down.

Anisette tried to take his mind off things.

"This is yours, right?" she said, holding out her pistol to him.

"Keep it, I've got another one."

"Did you make them yourself?"

"My father did; he was a gunsmith for the Gallian army but they treated him like luggage for being a Darcsen."

"And your jacket as well."

"You've been wearing it ever since I 'died'?"

"Yeah, ever since then. Thought it would help me remember you and all the stuff you did."

"Not the best way to remember our friendship though. These would, though," Zack said, taking two medals out of his pocket. Anisette recognized them at once.

"The Levatain Commemorative Medals we had. I gave you mine when we left Lanseal to put it on you to return it to me when we met again," she said, smiling and taking one of them back.

"I kept my promise then, then?"

"Yeah Zack... you did."


	6. Proof of Friendship

**Chapter 6: Proof of Friendship**

Before the crack of dawn, everyone was ready to move out and was either checking their equipment or fidgeting around unsure of what to say. Barely any of them thought they would get this far and the final battle put almost unbearable pressure on them. One of Anisette's own worries was what Aliasse would do if she had to fight Foerster, who despite never caring for Aliasse at Lanseal and abandoning her, would obviously still feel to Aliasse like her 'mother' in a way. Anisettte was all for keeping Aliasse behind as support, but No. 1 wouldn't hear of it.

"All of us are charging at the same time. The Regular Army is dragging its feet. It's up to us, the militia, to capture Randgriz castle and drive out the Federation," he said. "None of us is staying behind. We need as much infantry as we can muster, because we've got only one tank."

No. 1 had also made a pretty good plan - the tank would drive in front of the infantry and cover them while they attacked. The fencers and armored techs would be at the sides and back row so as not to expose the main infantry from any side. Aliasse wasn't going to stay behind anyway.

When everyone was in position, No. 1 gave a signal and the tank lurched forward with everyone else following. No. 1 was piloting the tank himself and he was surprisingly skilled at it. When Castle Randgriz came in sight they saw that the Federation was more than ready. A whole row of V2s preceded the gate. Being fake Valkyria, they were also significantly less powerful and they made it into the castle without any major damage. Once they reached the castle gates the tank turned right on its treads to circle around followed by part of the squad while the rest moved into the castle. Anisette and Zack, of course, were in the former.

Once inside the Federation and Gallian soldiers merged and everyone started shooting at everyone else. The orderly squad split up and took cover wherever they could. It was a long, tough fight that ended with the Federation pushed back by what remained of the Gallian squad. Anisette saw that Zack, Zakir, Aliasse and Dave were still alive but Pliskin was injured. Iya was healing him with the meager supply of ragnaid they had.

They left Pliskin and Iya behind for them to heal and moved through the rubble of the once grand castle to stick a flag in their newly formed base camp. Dave and Zakir were left there to defend it from the Federation soldiers that were still coming while Anisette, Zack and Aliasse moved back out to see how No. 1's part of the squad was faring. Outside it was silent as death and immediately Anisette sensed that something was wrong. They went to the castle's extremely spacious courtyard where lion's paw flowers grew in abundance and saw the remainders of the squad there. Bodies of soldiers were everywhere. Their tank stood there with fist-sized holes in its treads and No. 1 was slumped inside it. Anisette ran over and climbed the tank to check up on him.

"He's dead," she said quietly.

Zack and Aliasse climbed up silently, unsure of what to say. Zack finally crouched by No. 1's body and said, " ... thanks for bringing us where we are, No. 1. You did a really good job. I promise we'll take Gallia back." Forgetting aboutthe battle they stood there in silence.

"Hey! What's going on here-" Zakir said, running over and he fell silent at the sight before him.

"Zakir, what of the base camp?" Anisette asked.

"I left Dave and the others to defend it so I could check up on you guys," Zakir explained. "No. 1's..."

"I have an idea who did this," Anisette said, indicating the holes in the treads that she felt sure only real Valkyrian fire could make.

"Aliasse, over here," said Foerster's voice behind them and sure enough, she had turned into a Valkyria. Aliasse looked shocked.

"Mama, why are you here?" she asked.

"Oh, heck... Zakir, get Aliasse out of here," Anisette said as she and Zack readied her weapons.

"She's not going anywhere. She's coming with me," Foerster said forcefully. "Aliasse, there's nothing for you here. Come to my side if you actually want a future. Remember when you wanted to stay with Avan and Cosette? You've had nothing but wars then."

"Aliasse, don't listen to her. She doesn't care for you," Zack said.

Foerster cackled madly, seeming drunk with her power. "And do you? You dragged her into another war here. But if you two must be so insistent," she said, inclining her head towards Anisette and Zack, "then let's see what you can do against my power."

She raised the gun she had and fired the blue flame from it. Anisette and Zack dove behind the tank, but the flame simply ripped through the tank and hit Zack on the other side. Foerster smiled, raised her gun again and fired at Anisette who fell injured as well. She shot Zakir who didn't look as if he knew what to do.

"That was simple, wasn't it?" she said and turned towards Aliasse. "Now, Aliasse, over here."

"Aliasse... don't," Anisette said, clutching her side in an atempt to stop the pain.

Aliasse looked blank for a second, then a whip and shield materialized in her hands and she was covered in blue flame.

"I'm sorry, Mama," she said and she meant it. "But I can't let you hurt my friends any more."

"Fine," Foerster smirked, a lance materializing in her hands. "Then you'll have to die like the rest of them."

The moment their weapons met the courtyard was engulfed in a blinding light and Anisette shielded her eyes.

Despite being a Valkyria, Foerster didn't know her own powers, having not being one all her life and it ended with her mortally wounded and Aliasse left standing, breathing hard from the exhaustion of the fight. Anisette turned back to her more human form and knelt by Foerster.

"If this is what you chose, siding with feeble Gallians and Darcsens... you'll have to live with the consequences. You'll never have a normal life," Foerster gasped, blue flame still around her although more feeble.

Anisette, Zack and Zakir got up, still injured.

"Zakir, get Aliasse away from here," Anisette said. This time, Zakir did as she said.

Anisette pulled out her pistol and walked over to Foerster.

"Oh, it's you again," Foerster said, sounding exasperated even then. "You and that Darcsen..." she said, inclining her head towards Zack, "... you're blinded by patriotism."

"Give me a good reason, then, why this world won't be a better place without you," Anisette said, aiming at Foerster.

"Go ahead and shoot me then," Foerster said. "I have no regrets if this is the cost of research."

Over the horizon, Aliasse tensed as a gunshot rang out, then broke down in tears. Foerster never thought of her more than a 'subject', but she still thought of her as her mother. Zakir put an arm around her, trying to comfort her. As they went off to free Cordelia who was a prisoner in the castle's dungeon's, Anisette and Zack watched the flame fade away from Foerster. After an eternity, they had avenged the countless Gallians who had died because of Clementia Foerster.

"Guess we're done here, then," Zack said, walking away. Anisette pulled him around and kissed him, and he put his arms around her and returned it.

"Thanks for sticking through with me," Anisette said when they pulled apart.

"We're still staying together," Zack promised.

_(A week later)_

The Federation pulled out of Gallia, both countries having sustained heavy damage - Gallia in particular. But relieved that the war was over, the citizens started rebuilding the country and helping each other in every way they could.

Cordelia gi Randriz held a ceremony to present a Gallian Medal of Honour to the three soldiers who had been crucial to the end of the war: Anisette Nelson, Zack and Aliasse. None of them arrived to receive their medals.

**(Near a village)**

"Foerster told me they'd destroyed our village," Anisette said as she and Zack walked towards said village.

"Don't worry. We'll help in rebuilding it, people all over the country are," Zack assured her. "Do you think Aliasse will be okay?"

"Cosette will help her get over it," Anisette said. They had taken Aliasse back to Cosette. Aliasse had been uncharacteristically quiet ever since Foerster died. "At least, I hope she does."

"Aliasse saved us back there, and she has to go through so much now. Poor girl."

They arrived at the village and saw that it had been indeed completely destroyed and abandoned. Once Anisette's home, it was now more of a ghost village, with no living being in site.

"We'll help in rebuilding it," Zack said again.

"There's nothing here," Anisette said, "but I know this is our home."

**Author's Note: Well, there ends another story. Sorry for the abrupt ending, but I barely have access to the computer now and couldn't write is as long and nice as I planned. This is probably the end of the entire story, but I suppose I'll continue it someday because I love this pairing so much.**


End file.
